Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Internationaux de France 2019 Recap


I don’t really have anything new to add about the pairs and dance events at Internationaux de France last weekend—though I’m sure I’ll come up with something cohesive to say about the latest extraordinary work of Papadakis/Cizeron at some point—so I’ll just focus on the most memorable parts of the singles’ events…

MEN

It occurs to me that some of these guys must have studied the GP assignments to figure out if they had any chance at gold… that is to say, is (Nathan) Chen at this event? How about (Yuzuru) Hanyu? As we know, Chen was at SkAM and at last weekend’s Internationaux de France. Hanyu was at SkCAN, and will be at NHK Trophy (I can’t believe I actually just checked that; DUH, when he’s healthy I’m not sure NHK can function without him). SO… Cup of China (this weekend) and Rostelecom Cup (next weekend) are the ones to be at this year if you’re an elite man on the GP circuit looking to make the biggest of statements about your place on skating’s map.

As it was, here on the third stop, the news wasn’t so much who was on top (Chen, of course, continuing a winning streak that started right after Pyeong Chang), but who was near the bottom (Shoma Uno)… as well as who seemed to think he was at the bottom until he had a bronze medal in his hands. In the case of the latter (home country fave Kevin Aymoz), it was a big miss on a triple lutz that led him to tears after the SP. But it was one of those events where everyone in the SP made significant mistakes—including Chen, who resurrected his messy triple axel—so when the dust settled, Aymoz was already in third. Then, when Uno faltered badly*, Aymoz lit up the arena despite a few stumbles. And found himself crying for a whole new reason.

*Uno won Finlandia Trophy earlier in the season (with a total score around 255), which seemed a very positive sign for the guy who currently has no full-time coach (just a “jump coach” in Takeshi Honda). But if you saw either of his performances in France you know how much unraveling is going on with Uno as of now.   

LADIES

I did better on my GP France predictions than I thought I would (for once!). But while I got the podium placement of the Russian ladies correct—helped along, of course, by Alena Kostornaia’s stellar triple axels and Alina Zagitova’s occasional jump errors—but I wasn’t sure Mariah Bell would be able to triumph over the ever-powerful Kaori Sakamoto. But look what happened! Bell went clean on both programs (Even outscoring Zags in the free skate!), and while Sakamoto delivered another strong edition of her Matrix free skate, a fall on the double axel in the short helped ensure it wasn’t even a close call… bronze for Bell by close to 13 points.

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